I. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains generally to the field of microprocessor-based electronics, and more specifically to providing a method and apparatus for providing configurable functionality in such an electronic device.
II. Description of the Related Art
Wireless communications have become commonplace in much of the world today. In many digital wireless communication systems, audio information, typically voice, is transmitted between wireless communication devices and other end units via infrastructure equipment. Examples of various communication systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, global system for mobile communications (GSM) systems, wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) systems, as well as others.
Wireless communication devices used in such communication systems comprise many electronic circuits, organized into “functional blocks”, for performing various functions necessary to the type of communications desired. Wireless communication devices are generally designed with a single type of functional block for each function to be performed. For example, in a wireless digital telephone, audio information is generally filtered and amplified, then converted into a digital signal using one of a possible number of functional blocks. The digital signal may then be provided to a vocoder, which is a well known device in the art for compressing digitized speech for efficient wireless transmission. The vocoder generates discreet packets of information, known as vocoder frames, and are then generally provided to a modulator. The vocoder circuitry, or functional block, is one of a number of different possible vocoder types that is designed into the wireless communication device by engineers who designed the wireless device.
Modulated data is then provided to an RF transmitter where the modulated data is upconverted and amplified prior to transmission. Various types of vocoders are widely known, for example, fixed or variable vocoders are readily available.
Of course, other wireless communication devices are designed specially for other tasks.
For example, another wireless communication device is a cellular telephone that communicates in an encrypted, or “secure”, mode. In such a device, another functional block for providing encrypted communications is pre-selected by engineers and designed into the wireless communication device.
One problem with any of the above-described communication devices is that once the functional blocks for providing the desired functionality are chosen and incorporated into the wireless communication device, the overall functionality for the desired application is set and cannot be changed. For example, in an application where it is desired to send and receive secure voice communications using a variable-rate vocoder having a top encoding rate of 14 kbps, it is not possible to communicate using a vocoder having a top encoding rate of, say, 9 kbps, even if other communication devices are able to communicate using the 9 kbps encoding rate.